Summertime Melody & Solo Study

Summertime is one of the most popular jazz tunes at jam sessions and on pick-up gigs. It’s also one of the most fun jazz tunes to play on guitar. Because of this, Summertime is an essential tune to have under your fingers. But, while is a popular and fun tune, it’s often hard to know where to start. To help you get your hands, head, and ears around summertime, here’s the melody and a few soloing concepts to explore.

These concepts will help you navigate the changes to Summertime with confidence, and the melody ensures you always know where you are on the tune and can quote the melody in your solos when inspiration strikes.

Have fun exploring this melody, sample solos, and improvisational concepts over this classic Gershwin tune.

It’s a fun song, but often harder than it looks, so studying this material builds your confidence and skill set to navigate this jazz standards.

Video

Summertime Melody

Summertime Scales

There are 2 guitar scales that can be used over the entire chord changes of Summertime, the A natural minor scale and the A minor blues scale.

A Natural Minor Scale

The first is the A natural minor scale (aka A Aeolian scale). This scale has the same notes as the C major scale.

A Natural Minor Scale

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

1

2

b3

4

5

b6

b7

Here is the most common fingering on guitar (but always learn to play all guitar scales over the entire fret board):

A Minor Blues Scale

The minor blues scale has the same notes as the A minor pentatonic scale, but with an added blue note.

A Minor Blues Scale

A

C

D

D#

E

G

1

b3

4

#4

5

b7

Here is the most common fingering:

You can get by by using only these 2 scales in your improvisation, but your solos will sound repetitive and not very interesting. One way to spice things up a bit is to add some other scales, especially over the dominant chords…

D Minor Harmonic Scale

This scale can be used in the 4th bar, over the ii V in D minor (Em7b5 A7):

D Minor Harmonic Scale

D

E

F

G

A

Bb

C#

Played over A7

11

5

b13

b7

1

b9

3

Here is the fingering in 5th position:

The harmonic minor scale can also be played over the ii Vs in A minor, but here we have to use the A harmonic minor scale:

Summertime Arpeggios

Another way to add interest to your solos is using arpeggios. While explaining how arpeggios work is beyond the scope of this lesson, here’s one example you can use over the ii V in D minor in the 4th bar.

A common arpeggio to play over a dominant chord is the diminished arpeggio starting on the 3rd of that dominant chord.

I’ve had a quick skim through this, and I’m looking forward to getting my teeth into it, but I have one comment to make about your description of the C# diminished arpeggio over an A7 chord.

The reason this arpeggio works, and the way it functions as a replacement for a dominant seventh chord, is that it’s actually an A7b9 arpeggio that misses out the root. When I hear a diminished chord or arpeggio in context, it feels transitional to me – providing a stepping stone from one chord to the next. A dominant seventh has a different feel and function.

Obviously there’s a tension in your lessons between the pragmatic (“this is where to find this arpeggio during a solo”) and the theoretical (“this is what’s really happening here”), but we’re big boys and girls on this forum, and I think we can take a little theory!

My tip for finding where to start this arpeggio it to play the root first and slide up a semitone (to Bb in this case) before starting the familiar sequence of minor third intervals.

A similar chord-naming issue arises with Em7b5, C9 and Gm6, where the same shape is used but is (usually!) given the name that fits its function.

Hi Dirk, Thank you, you do so much work for us. I have been with you since the early days and you are always giving more and teaching new material. For the Love of Jazz…You Are Great. Ill get some one day to repay your kindness, and i will buy from you. All the best. Matt Hawkins.

You play this beautifully, I would really like to know how you get that nice mellow tone. I know tone is also how the player touches the notes (both left hand and right hand) but what suggestions would you have. Interested in knowing what amp your using and any pedals you us, settings on amp and guitar. Thank you so much.